Horticulture and Soil Science Wiki:Policies and guidelines
H&SS policies and guidelines are developed by the community to describe best practice, clarify principles, resolve conflicts, and otherwise further our goal of creating a free, reliable encyclopedia. There is no need to read any policy or guideline pages before starting editing. Although H&SS does not employ hard-and-fast rules, H&SS policy and guideline pages describe its principles and best-known practices. Policies explain and describe standards that all users should normally follow. Policies should always be applied using reason and common sense. Adherence Please use common sense when interpreting and applying policies and rules. And note that there will be certain exceptions to the rules as they are not set in stone. Users who equivocate the rules or use certain rules to circumvent others will not be tolerated. Policies are written as they are for a reason. Enforcement Enforcement on H&SS is similar to other social interactions. If an editor violates the community standards described in policies and guidelines, other editors can persuade the person to adhere to acceptable norms of conduct. Should this fail, then administrator actions will be enacted. In the case of gross violations of community norms, administrators are likely to resort to more forceful means fairly rapidly. Going against the principles set out on these pages, particularly policy pages, is unlikely to prove acceptable. This means that individual editors take part in enforcing and applying policies. In cases where it is clear that a user is acting against policy, especially if they are doing so intentionally and persistently, that user''' may be temporarily or indefinitely blocked from editing by an administrator'. Content Policy and guideline pages must: *'Be clear'. Avoid esoteric or quasi-legal terms and dumbed-down language. Be plain, direct, unambiguous, and specific. Avoid platitudes and generalities. Do not be afraid to tell editors directly that they must or should do something. *'Be as concise as possible—but no more concise'. Verbosity is not a reliable defense against misinterpretation. Omit needless words. Direct, concise writing may be more clear than rambling examples. *'Maintain scope and avoid redundancy'. Clearly identify the purpose and scope early in the page. Content should be within the scope of its policy. When the scope of one advice page overlaps with the scope of another, minimize redundancy. When one policy refers to another policy, it should do so briefly, clearly and explicitly. *'Not contradict each other'. The community's view cannot simultaneously be "A" and "not A". When apparent discrepancies arise between pages, editors should discuss how they can most accurately represent the community's current position, and correct all of the pages to reflect the community's view. This discussion should be on one talk page, with invitations to that page at the talk pages of the various affected pages; otherwise the corrections may still contradict each other. Proposals The steps for proposing a new policy are as follows: 1. '''Write up' the new policy. 2. Submit the policy to an administrator with a description and a reason for the new policy. 3. The administrator will present it to the community at large. 4. Depending on the consensus the policy will be given a label. *'Approved' - If a policy meets with strong positive consensus then it is approved then it will be enacted and utilized on H&SS *'Unresolved' - If a policy proposal meets with neutral or no consensus then it will be labeled as "unresolved." A user must then wait 15 days to make a second proposal. If a policy is labeled "unresolved" three times then the three "unresolved" labels will be replaced with a label of "terminated." *'Failed' - If a policy proposal meets with strong negative consensus then it will be labeled as "failed." In order to resubmit a "failed" policy it must be re-written and proposed after a 30 day period. If a policy proposal fails two times then it will be labeled as "terminated." *'Terminated' - Policy proposals that have been terminated cannot be resubmitted for proposal and will not be considered at anytime. Changes Substantive and minor changes in policies can occur at any time. Any changes in policy are usually preceded by a discussion on a talk page and evaluation of consensus. However, if there is a need to change a policy quickly, administrators may forgo the usual proposal and approval process.